Notification terminal with text-to-speech amplifier

ABSTRACT

A mass notification terminal may have a data parser and decoder connected to a communications terminal. Announcements may be transmitted to the communications terminal in the form of linguistic symbols and commands using low bandwidth and low power protocol transmissions. Push transmissions conserve bandwidth. An abstraction of an audio announcement may be transmitted for use with a speech synthesizer. The abstraction may be linguistic symbols such as phenomes, text, or may identify pre-stored clips. The system may provide announcement confirmation. The system may take advantage of communication protocols that have message size limitations. The announcements may be sent in one or more message transmissions. When an announcement is composed of multiple messages, using message sequence numbers and announcement identifications may facilitate grouping and arranging of the messages that make up the announcement.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of and claims priority toU.S. application Ser. No. 16/396,577 filed Apr. 26, 2019 which is acontinuation of and claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No.15/357,947 filed Nov. 21, 2016. U.S. application Ser. No. 16/373,481,now U.S. Pat. No. 10,535,234, is a divisional of application Ser. No.15/357,947 filed Nov. 21, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 10,297,117.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

The invention relates to notification apparatus and methods, and moreparticularly to notification systems with a speech synthesizer.

2. Description of the Related Technology

An emergency notification system may facilitate dissemination orbroadcast of messages to one or many points, alerting them to a pendingor existing emergency or providing other information.

One-click notification is a method of clicking one button within amobile app or emergency notification platform to initiate thedissemination of a message. An emergency notification system such as RedMessaging is an example of one-click notification. Organizations may usea one-click notification service to trigger the sending of messages viapre-saved configurations such as selected contact groups, chosendelivery methods, etc.

Emergencies place demands on communication processes that are oftensignificantly different from the demands of non-emergency circumstances.Emergencies often involve escalating and evolving events that demandhigh performance and flexibility from the systems that provide emergencycommunication services. Message prioritization, automation ofcommunication, fast message delivery, communication audit trails, andother capabilities are often required by each unique emergencysituation. Inadequate emergency communications capabilities can haveconsequences that are inconvenient at best and disastrous at worst.There are many examples of emergency notification deficiencies.

During the September 11 attack in 2001, traditional telecommunicationswere stretched and overloaded. Phone networks along the entire EastCoast were congested into uselessness. 911 operators were overwhelmedwith calls and could do little more than offer encouragement because ofthe confusing information they were receiving. Communications betweenemergency services personnel were limited by a lack of interoperabilitybetween departments. Many fire-fighters died when the towers collapsedbecause they couldn't receive the warning that the police officersreceived from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) helicopters.Amateur radio played a large role in facilitating communications betweenthe various emergency departments, which operated on differentfrequencies and protocols.

On the day of the 7 Jul. 2005 London bombings, mobile phone networks,including Vodafone, reached full capacity and were overloaded by 10:00a.m., only an hour and ten minutes after the bombs went off. Because ofan antiquated radio system, the damaged trains were unable tocommunicate with the Transport for London control center or emergencypersonnel, while senior emergency services managers, of the LondonAmbulance Service in particular, were forced to rely on the alreadyoverloaded mobile phone network because of the lack of digital radios.The Access Overload Control, implemented only in a 1 km area aroundAldgate Tube Station, wasn't helpful because many officials didn't haveACCOLC-enabled mobile phones.

161 people were killed and at least 990 injured when an EF5multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Mo. Because Joplin is located in atornado-heavy area of the country, many people considered the tornadosirens routine and ignored them. Instead, many residents waited untilthey received confirmation from another, non-routine, source, such asseeing the tornado, a radio or TV report, or hearing a second siren. Inthe aftermath, an assessment team recommended that emergency warningstake risk perception into account to convey a sense of urgency.

When Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, hit New Orleans, theemergency communications systems were completely destroyed, includingpower stations, internet servers, mobile phone towers, and 911 services.The Federal relief workers' satellite phones weren't interoperable, evenwhen they did work. A few AM radio stations were able to continuebroadcasting throughout the storm, notably WWL Radio, which remained onthe air by broadcasting from a closet. Amateur radio was instrumental inthe rescue process and maintained signals when 911 communications weredamaged or overloaded. In this case it was reported that voice andinternet data channels were inoperative, while low overhead SMS trafficon cellular channels were operational.

The Virginia Tech Massacre, which resulted in the death of 33 people,helped propel discourse for effective emergency communication systems inschools. Virginia Tech had systems already in place, including e-mailand text notifications, but lacked a cohesive plan for using them. Nowarnings were sent out until after the event, two and a half hours afterthe initial shootings. Virginia Tech has since updated its emergencycommunications systems, especially public ones, since students can'talways check e-mail in a timely fashion and professors often requestthat wireless devices be turned off in class. Because the massacreoccurred within a 10-minute period, improved emergency communicationssystems with an emphasis on speed of communication are required.

The Japan Meteorological Agency's (JMA) early warning system, which usesseismometers, was able to alert millions of people across Japan aboutthe impending earthquake via radio, mobile phone networks, includingDocomo, AU, and SoftBank, and television, including both NHK channelsand cable channels. The tsunami warning system alerted people shortlyafter, although the tsunami was larger than expected. In areas withinfrastructure still intact, even though both landline and mobile phonelines were not functioning as might be expected, the Internet was stillaccessible. In the hardest hit areas, particularly Sendai and otherareas of Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima Prefectures, satellite phones wereoften the only form of communication that functioned reliably. Thefollowing nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant was rife withcommunications problems. No communications plan was in place, internalcommunications were poor, external communications were slow, and thepublic quickly lost confidence in TEPCO and the nuclear industry.

During the 2012 Aurora shooting on Jul. 20, 2012, the gunman, JamesEagan Holmes, released tear gas before opening fire during a showing ofThe Dark Knight Rises, causing many of the moviegoers to mistake theattack for part of the film's special effects. According to preliminaryreports, the suspect initially went into the theater as a patron. Hethen exited and propped open an emergency exit, while he went to his carto get his bulletproof vest and weapons. He then attacked after reentrythrough the propped-open door. In this type of situation, there was noeffective warning. Shortly after the assailant began shooting, thebuilding's fire alarms were sounded. The natural inclination, inresponse to a fire alarm, would be to evacuate the building, but in thiscase, the assailant was specifically targeting people who attempted toexit.

Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, New Jersey, and the surrounding areaon Oct. 29, 2012, destroying thousands of houses and leaving millionswithout electricity and thus without internet, mobile phones, orlandline communications. To prepare for the hurricane, many areasprovided additional emergency help lines in case 911 wasn't available,The Federal Emergency Management Agency has strengthened its ability torespond to a disaster since the communications problems during HurricaneKatrina and using Twitter in its rescue efforts, and amateur radiooperators were on standby to provide emergency communications. In theaftermath, up to 25% of mobile phone towers, network providers, andtelevision stations were powerless.

An emergency involves unforeseen combination of circumstances or theresulting state that calls for immediate action. As such, it should beconsidered critically important that any communication about anemergency be timely and quick to disseminate, in order to mitigatedamage or loss of life. For example, during the Virginia Tech massacre,about two hours had passed before the first communication (an email) wassent to staff and students; and by that time, the gunman had alreadyentered and secured a building in which he was shortly to begin hisattack. In that case, it wasn't until about 20 minutes after theshootings began, that a loudspeaker announcement was made for people totake cover. In many cases, it's likely obvious that mere seconds andminutes are absolutely critical. There is a clear need for improvementsto emergency notification/communication systems.

During a crisis, the people who use an emergency communication systemneed to quickly and easily launch their notifications and they need tobe able to do so in a way that securely provides them with confidenceand an intuitive, familiar and easy-to-use interface that can beaccessed from any location. Messages, both in audio and visual form needto be deliberate, to the point, and be clearly understood. An emergencycommunication system that's designed for non-technical users willfacilitate enhanced results in administration and usage; and during somelife-threatening emergency situations, campus administrators must beable to react quickly and trigger the alert system swiftly. Yetemergency alert is probably among the least used and least familiarprocesses. Ease-of-use therefore is critical to the effectiveness of anemergency communication system.

However, in order to support a robust and capable emergencycommunication ability, this ease of use should not preclude theutilization of a complex, technologically advanced system. Asufficiently advanced system is required to coordinate multiplecomponents to act in concert, to initiate and propagate emergencycommunications in any manner of ways. A distinguishing factor is in sucha system bearing these advanced capabilities, while still being easy forthe user to operate for both emergency and everyday communications (sousers can feel comfortable with it)—not only for effective emergencycommunication, but also for an organization to realize the most returnon investment, as well as the user being familiar enough with itsoperation as to effectively operate it under stressful emergencysituations, such as in earthquake, tsunami, etc.

Overall, the more affordable the cost of procuring, installing, andmaintaining an emergency communication system is, the more prolific suchsystems may become; and the more prolific these systems are, the morelikely it is that these systems will be available to aid in times ofemergency in more locations. Beyond supporting emergency response, massnotification systems may be a valuable asset for everyday,non-emergency, intra- and inter-plant communications. The deployment ofinteroperable, multi-device communications technology that enhancesoverall plant communications, and provides a host of usefulsoftware-based management and administrative tools is desirable.

An attribute of any modern emergency communication system is the abilityto provide notification of an emergency and to provide clear andactionable instructions for how to respond to an emergency.

Emergencies often require delivery of different versions of the samecommunication at the same time. For example, in an armed hostage-takingincident, occupants of a building may need to receive instructions tolock and barricade the door until further notice, while first respondersto the incident need to be aware of the lockdown instructions and beprovided more specific details of the hostage-taking event to informtheir actions.

It has been recognized that multiple means of delivering emergencyinformation is desirable.

Conventional communication tools such as smartphones, flat-panel digitalsignage, GPS, and text-to-speech (among many others) are being used foremergency notification. There are drawbacks to current implementationsof all of these tools.

There are primarily two major types of communication devices: those forindividual people and those for groups of people. Public CommunicationDevices are the devices that are designed to deliver a communication tomore than one person as a single process at the same time. Examplesinclude a digital electronic sign, a loudspeaker that is part of a PAsystem, or a large flat panel display on a wall. A private communicationdevice is a device that is designed to deliver communication to oneperson at a time through a single process. Typically, a single person isin control of such a device which is usually not shared. Examplesinclude a cell phone, a text message on the cell phone, an email, or amessage over a 2-way radio.

Public communication refers to the conveyance of messages to people, insuch a way that anyone may receive the communication at nearly the sametime as anyone else, typically using a common device. The most commonway of facilitating public communications is by using devices that areincorporated into some public venue, such as public-address systems ordigital signage. Using public devices for the purpose of public warningempowers people at risk to take actions to reduce losses from naturalhazards, accidents, and acts of terrorism.

Private means the delivery of messages to a specific individual, in aprivate manner or in a way that even those nearby may not get themessage. Common ways of facilitating private communications involvedevices such as telephones or electronic mail.

Mobile phones may be considered a private communication device becausethey are usually associated with or owned by a single individual. Onepossible limitation of using mobile phones for emergency communications,in a bomb-threat situation, for example, might include the potential ofcellular networks being disabled for fear that a bomb might be detonatedusing a cellular phone.

SMS text messages are a type of private communication because they aredirected toward a specific mobile number; and, thus, they are designedto reach one person at a time without the general public knowinganything about the message. A limitation in using SMS messaging foremergencies is that it may not meet the needs of emergencycommunication: this is, it must be highly reliable, be secure, haveexcellent access control, and high-speed delivery. Additionally, to beeffective a cellular phone must be registered in advance to receivestandard SMS messages, and can only receive Government generatedCellular Broadcasts (CB) from the WEA notification system.

Machine to machine (also identified as machine-to-machine or M2M) refersto direct communication between devices using any communicationschannel, including wired and wireless. Machine to machine communicationmay be implemented by a system of networks that transmit data topersonal appliances. The expansion of IP networks around the world hasmade machine to machine communication quicker and easier while usingless power.

Cloud connectivity is becoming a significant piece of the machine tomachine solution as cellular and wireless communication speeds increase.Machine to machine solutions providers now offer networks that allowusers to manage deployments remotely.

The internet of things (IoT) is the internetworking of physical devices,vehicles (also referred to as “connected devices” and “smart devices”),buildings and other items—embedded with electronics, software, sensors,actuators, and network connectivity that enable these objects to collectand exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed and/or controlledremotely across existing network infrastructure, creating opportunitiesfor more direct integration of the physical world into computer-basedsystems. IoT offers advanced connectivity of devices, systems, andservices that goes beyond machine to machine communications and covers avariety of protocols, domains, and applications.

Low-Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) or Low-Power Network (LPN) is a typeof wireless telecommunication network designed to allow long rangecommunications at a low bit rate among things (connected objects), suchas sensors operated on a battery.

6LoWPAN (IPv6 over Low power Wireless Personal Area Networks) is basedon RFC 4944 (updated by RFC 6282 with header compression, and by RFC6775 with neighbor discovery optimizations) developed by the 6LoWPANIETF group. The target for 6LoWPAN is IP networking for low-power radiocommunication is applications that use wireless internet connectivity atlower data rates for devices with very limited form factor.

ZigBee is another communication protocol that, like 6LoWPAN is low powerfor use in low data rate applications. Zigbee may be used to createpersonal area networks with small, low-power digital radios. ZigBee hasa defined rate of 250 kbit/s, suited for intermittent data transmissionsfrom a sensor or input device. DigiMesh is another low power radiocommunication protocol designed for peer-to-peer wireless networkingtopology. The DigiMesh protocol allows for time synchronized sleepingnodes/routers and low-power battery powered operation. Bluetooth lowenergy

(Bluetooth LE, BLE, marketed as Bluetooth Smart) is a wireless personalarea network technology. BLE provides considerably reduced powerconsumption and cost as compared to classic Bluetooth.

Current platforms and technologies include: LoRaWAN, Long Range WideArea Network (WAN), from the LoRa Alliance; NarrowBand IoT (NB-IOT),standardization effort by 3GPP for a LPWAN used in cellular networksthat evolved from Huawei's NB-CIoT effort; LTE Advanced for Machine TypeCommunications (LTE-M), an evolution of LTE communications for connectedthings by 3GPP; NB-Fi Protocol, from WAVIoT; NWave, a proprietarytechnology that also forms the basis of Weightless protocols; RPMA,Random Phase Multiple Access technology from Ingenu, formerly known asOn-Ramp Wireless; Senet, public LoRaWAN provider in North America;Symphony Link, LoRa-based platform from Link Labs; Sigfox, UNB-basedtechnology and French company; ThingPark Wireless, a platform fromAcility (based on LoRaWAN specification); Weightless, a set ofcommunication standards from the Weightless SIG; LoRa, proprietary CSSmodulation technology used for LPWAN patented by Semtech by LoRaAlliance used by LoRaWan and Symphony Link; and UNB, Ultra Narrow Bandmodulation technology used for LPWAN by various companies includingTelensa, NWave, Weightless-N and Sigfox.

Short Message Service (SMS) is a text messaging service component oftelephone, World Wide Web, and mobile telephony systems. It usesstandardized communications protocols to enable fixed-line or mobilephone devices to exchange short text messages. SMS was the most widelyused data application, with an estimated 3.5 billion active users, orabout 80% of all mobile phone subscribers, at the end of 2010. SMS isalso employed in mobile marketing, a type of direct marketing.

SMS as used on modern handsets originated from radio telegraphy in radiomemo pagers using standardized phone protocols. These were defined in1985 as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) seriesof standards as a means of sending messages of up to 160 characters toand from GSM mobile handsets. Though most SMS messages aremobile-to-mobile text messages, support for the service has expanded toinclude other mobile technologies, such as ANSI CDMA networks andDigital AMPS, as well as satellite and landline networks. SMS also isused as a broadcast push notification called Cellular Broadcasts (CB)for government initiated broadcast of Amber Alerts, Weather andEmergency Notification events.

TCP/IP based communications such as HTTP, UDP and FTP can also beadapted for use in small data payloads over Low Bandwidth M2Mcommunications, both wired and wireless. Providers such as Verizon haveoffered services that provide extremely low yearly fees, based onlimited bandwidth. To allow usage of the cost advantage, data volumemust be kept low, at a level that precludes practical transmission ofaudio information using conventional coding protocols. For example, aconventional MP3 audio message requires a minimum bit rate of 8kbits/sec and up to 320 kbits/sec.

Packet sizes for LPWA data may be limited and only support smallintermittent blocks of data. To increase content transfer binarycompression with little or no overhead may be used to improvethroughput. For example, payload information, may be converted 6-bitdata while still preserving text and control code content, orcompression such as Shoco, under license by MIT, can be used to increasecontent throughput by up to 50%. In this way LPWA data can betransformed into speech with more efficiency.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

According to an advantageous feature of the invention, an audioamplifier supporting alert announcements over wide area wirelesschannels is described that operates more effectively than existingsystems. The audio amplifier may convert ASCII coded data representingtime-sensitive phrases and events to audio announcements based on datarepresenting text and/or instructions received over a low bandwidthnetwork. The audio announcements may be delivered by a loudspeakerassociated with the audio amplifier. The system may support real-timedynamic content that may be created at distant locations. The real-timeinput data uses low cost wireless connectivity and, when the data inputis idle, the wireless network is idle, to keep costs of the wirelessprovider low. To accomplish this, an integrated speech synthesizer suchas Text-to-Speech may operate with low data rate inputs with real timemanagement from a mobile device, automated machinery, or a cloud-basedserver. Push data mode may be incorporated for further cost savings toavoid use of bandwidth attendant to polling over a network which, inoperation, would be done at intervals measured in seconds. Whereas useof push data may be limited by activation only when called for. In thecase of an alerting announcement, the demand for network bandwidth istightly linked to announcements made. Depending on need, the intervalmay be a year or more. This is contrasted by polling systems thatrequire frequent activation. The extended intervals result incost-effective idle state management allowing use of a service providedin Cellular SMS, Low Power Wide Area (“LPWA”) and other M2M networks.Additionally, the low data rate achieved using Text-to-Speech overwireless networks is cost effective because the cost of datacommunication services is typically based on accumulated bytes of dataused and the bandwidth requirements for the presently described systemare low enough to take advantage of very low cost low bandwidthcommunications. A low bandwidth transport medium may be considered to beany channel that, due to bandwidth, is unable to support data rates,latency, and/or packet size, do not permit streaming of audio with rawor even highly compressed data such as ADPCM, CELP, MP3, and others,such as those supporting VOIP Limitations inherent in low bandwidthtransport media are that seconds may be involved to create a data bufferof sufficient size to collect data to decompress that will not avoidanalog dropouts or [lossy] compression will result in unintelligiblesound due to compression type, poor dynamic range, or audio spectrumcutoffs. This is further limited when networks are throttled in times ofcrisis and emergency, as mentioned in the previous historical events.The system outlined uniquely combines the advantages above in anintegrated notification terminal.

A method for generating audio announcements may include the step ofreceiving transmission of messages that make up an announcement. Themessages may include an announcement identifier, a sequence identifier,and a payload. The payload may include data representing commands anddata representing linguistic symbols. The method may include the step ofparsing the messages to identify the data representing linguisticsymbols and the step of processing the data representing linguisticsymbols through a speech synthesizer in an order prescribed per theannouncement identifier and the sequence identifier. The method mayinclude the step of monitoring an output of the speech synthesizer andissuing a confirmation upon detection that all linguistic symbolscorresponding to the announcement identifier have been processed by thespeech synthesizer. The linguistic symbols may be text and may be datarepresenting phonemes. The step of issuing may include issuing theconfirmation to an address association with the announcement. At leastone message relating to an announcement identifier may include datarepresenting an end of transmission indicator. The step of processingmay be commenced after receipt of a message including data representingthe end of the transmission indicator. The step of processing may becommenced after receipt of a message including data representing the endof transmission indicator and all messages relating an announcementidentifier. The messages include data representing a time stamp.Messages relating to an announcement identifier may be discarded if acomplete sequence of messages relating to the announcement identifierare not received within a time permitted for announcement of the audioannouncement relating to an announcement identifier.

A mass notification terminal may include a communication terminal, adata parser and a decoder responsive to the communication terminal. Aspeech synthesizer connected to a linguistic output of the data parserand decoder and a sensor may be responsive to an output of the speechsynthesizer and may have an output indicative of an output of the speechsynthesizer. The communication terminal may be an LPWA (low power widearea) network communication terminal. The communication terminal may bea low data rate cellular terminal with an SMS (short message system)channel. The communication terminal may be a low data rate radioterminal with mesh network channels. The communications terminal may bea wired or wireless LAN with TCP/IP designed to support M2M datapayloads. The mass notification terminal may include an amplifierconnected to an output of the speech synthesizer and have a speaker,transducer or terminals connected to an output of the amplifier. Themass notification terminal may include a sensor connected to the dataparser and decoder. The data parser and controller may further include acommand parser configured to identify and connect input commands to acontroller. The mass notification terminal may also include a messagearray connected to an output of the data parser and decoder. The massnotification terminal may also include a communication interfaceconnected to a communication channel where the communication interfacemay be connected to the data parser and controller. The data parser andcontroller may have a trigger output.

A mass notification system may have one or more notification terminalshaving at least a low bandwidth communication terminal; a data parserand decoder responsive to the communication terminal; an audio filestore connected to the data parser and decoder; a speech synthesizerconnected to an output of the data parser and decoder; and an amplifierhaving a speech input connected to a speech output of the speechsynthesizer and connected to a speech output of the audio file store. Inaddition, personal communication devices having an application programconfigured to dispatch linguistic symbols and control commands to apre-established address corresponding to an address of the notificationterminal may be deployed.

Various objects, features, aspects, and advantages of the presentinvention will become more apparent from the following detaileddescription of preferred embodiments of the invention, along with theaccompanying drawings in which like numerals represent like components.

Moreover, the above objects and advantages of the invention areillustrative, and not exhaustive, of those that can be achieved by theinvention. Thus, these and other objects and advantages of the inventionwill be apparent from the description herein, both as embodied hereinand as modified in view of any variations which will be apparent tothose skilled in the art.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of a notification terminal.

FIG. 2 shows a principal process flow of a process for operation of anembodiment of a notification terminal.

FIG. 3 shows a sub-process for assembling a speech text array.

FIG. 4 shows a sub-process for synthesizing speech of a message array.

FIG. 5 shows the main server side process flow for transmitting messagesto one or more notification terminals.

FIG. 6 shows a send message sub-process.

FIG. 7 shows a get responses sub-process.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Before the present invention is described in further detail, it is to beunderstood that the invention is not limited to the embodimentsdescribed, as such may, of course, vary. It is also to be understoodthat the terminology used herein is for describing embodiments only, andis not intended to be limiting, since the scope of the present inventionwill be limited only by the appended claims.

Where a range of values is provided, it is understood that eachintervening value, to the tenth of the unit of the lower limit unlessthe context clearly dictates otherwise, between the upper and lowerlimit of that range and any other stated or intervening value in thatstated range is encompassed within the invention. The upper and lowerlimits of these smaller ranges may independently be included in thesmaller ranges is also encompassed within the invention, subject to anyspecifically excluded limit in the stated range. Where the stated rangeincludes one or both limits, ranges excluding either or both of thoseincluded limits are also included in the invention.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used hereinhave the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill inthe art to which this invention belongs. Although any methods andmaterials similar or equivalent to those described herein can also beused in the practice or testing of the present invention, a limitednumber of the exemplary methods and materials are described herein.

It must be noted that as used herein and in the appended claims, thesingular forms “a”, “an”, and “the” include plural referents unless thecontext clearly dictates otherwise.

All publications mentioned herein are incorporated herein by referenceto disclose and describe the methods and/or materials in connection withwhich the publications are cited. The publications discussed herein areprovided solely for their disclosure prior to the filing date of thepresent application. Nothing herein is to be construed as an admissionthat the present invention is not entitled to antedate such publicationby prior invention. Further, the dates of publication provided may bedifferent from the actual publication dates, which may need to beindependently confirmed.

FIG. 1 shows a notification terminal 101. The notification terminal 101may have communications terminal 102. The communications terminal 102may be a low-powered wide area (LPWA) terminal. The communicationsterminal 102 may be an M2M cellular terminal, a mesh network of low datarate radios supporting wireless WLAN for M2M (ex: 802.11) or a terminalusing another low-cost transmission medium. The communications terminal102 may be connected to a data parser and decoder 103. The data parserand decoder 103 may be connected to a speech synthesizer 104, forexample, a text-to-speech converter. An output of the speech synthesizer104 may be connected to amplifier 105. The amplifier 105 may drive aspeaker 106. The speaker may be internal to a notification terminalhousing 112 or mounted externally/remotely to the notification terminalhousing 112. Similarly, a sensor 107 may be mounted on or in thenotification terminal housing 112 or mounted externally to thenotification terminal housing 112. Sensor 107 may be an audio sensor, orother sensor to monitor a condition of interest. The sensor 107 may beconnected to a signal conditioner 113. The signal conditioner 113 may beconnected to sensor analytics 108. The sensor analytics 108 may beconnected to the data parser and decoder 103. A communication interface109 may be connected to the data parser and decoder 103. Storage 110 inthe form of addressable memory may be connected to the data parser anddecoder 103 and the amplifier 105. The communications terminal 102and/or the communications interface 109 may be bi-directional tofacilitate transmission of an announcement confirmation. The channels102 and 109 may be shared.

The notification terminal 101 may be utilized in many applications wherethere is a desire to take advantage of the lower cost associated withlow power and low bandwidth communication protocols. The notificationterminal 101 may be powered by a battery and/or connected to the linepower source. The notification terminal 101 is suited for use as a massnotification terminal.

The communications terminal 102 may use a cellular-basedmachine-to-machine (M2M) or any other low power and/or low bandwidthwide area network communication terminals. Such communication terminals,may be the types of terminals used in IOT applications. The nature ofsuch terminals admits to operation on battery power over a long termwithout recharging. The communications terminal 102 may be addressableand capable of receiving low bandwidth communications such as SMSmessages. The communications received by the communications terminal 102may include data representative of text information and datarepresentative of commands.

The communications terminal 102 may receive communications and convertthose to digital data. The communications terminal 102 may transmit thedigital data to the data parser and decoder 103. The data parser anddecoder 103 may include an authentication or validation control forsecurity purposes. The data parser and decoder 103 may distinguishbetween data representing text messages and data representing commandand/or control signals. Both text and command signals may be provided tothe text-to-speech converter 104.

The speech synthesizer 104 may receive and interpret commands such aslanguage, volume, repetition, and sensor data. In addition, the speechsynthesizer 104 may receive data representing text and may operate toconvert the data representing text signals to data representing audioinformation.

The signals representing audio information may be provided to anamplifier 105. The signals representing audio information may beconverted from digital signals to analog signals in the speechsynthesizer 104, or may be converted by digital-to-analog convertersafter being output from speech synthesizer 104.

The speech synthesizer 104 may include circuitry designed to scale theamplitude of an analog output signal to a standard level or to aprogrammable level. The programmable level may be established accordingto the desired volume of the notification audio.

The amplifier 105 may condition the audio information provided at itsinput to a desirable level for a speaker 106. The speaker 106 mayreceive an electrical signal representing audio information from theamplifier 105 and convert the electrical signal to an audio output.

The data parser and decoder 103 may be adapted to generate signals foruse by a controller 111 or other components. In addition, the dataparser and decoder 103 may be responsive to signals obtained from orderived from a sensor. For example, the sensor 107, may be a microphone.The sensor may also be a digital input. Depending on the sensor, theoutput of the sensor may be provided to a signal conditioner 113. Foranalog signals, the signal conditioner may be a voltage thresholddetection system that can detect and decode the cadence and compositionof impulse noise. The digital input may be a contact closure logicdetector or a sensor that decodes reception of signals, such asBluetooth BLE wireless beacons, or infrared and inductive proximitysensors. Sensor output may be provided to sensor analytics 108. Thesensor analytics 108 may generate an output indicative of aninterpretation of sensor signal inputs. For example, the sensor 107,signal conditioner 113, and sensor analytics 108 may be configured togenerate an output signal upon detection of audio determined to beconsistent with audio generated by a gunshot. The sensor analytics 108may be connected to the data parser and decoder 103 to receiveinformation indicative of the sensed condition. The sensor 107, signalconditioner 113, and sensor analytics 108 may be used to generate asignal indicative of a successful announcement. The sensor may include amicrophone, the output of which may be monitored for informationindicative of an announcement. This may be performed by timing the audiooutput for activity having a duration consistent with expected durationof an announcement outputting the sensed information through aspeech-to-text process and comparing the output to the text of theannouncement. Another confirmation process may be to generate an audiofingerprint or other abstraction from the sensor 107 output and compareto an abstraction of the announcement. The sensor 107 may be as simpleas a pushbutton which may also provide coded identification information.The sensor analytics 108 may be connected to the data parser and decoder103 in order adjust volume at amplifier 105 indicative of the sensedcondition.

The following are examples of command and control inputs that may beincluded in a data transmission and supported by the notificationterminal where the letters represent control codes and the # symbols orinformation surrounded by [ ] represent delimiters.

The data parser and decoder may remove the command and control codesprior to passing the data to the Text-to-Speech processor so the codesare not spoken. The codes may be ASCII characters to allow transmissionover the SMS character set. The codes below are shown for clarity andmay be abbreviated to limit payload overhead for some LPWA networkconstraints.

-   -   A—Abort current speech. Allows control to abort current speech.    -   V#—Volume 1-9, used to set the physical level of an external        amplifier.    -   E##—Event codes to inform the terminal of an event to execute,        such as turn on a physical flasher.    -   L##—Language selection code to enable phrases to change        languages, voices or genders within a parsed data block.    -   P“cc.wav”—Wave file name, to insert audio tones or pre-recorded        files.    -   R#—Repeat the entire phrase.    -   S##—Set urgency or Priority in a queue of messages    -   C##—Command an event such as connect to a server for update of        internal software, report status or to seek further instructions    -   X—End of message code to inform the parser the message is        complete.    -   Z##—Message assembly code used to concatenate multi-packet        messages of characters into a single spoken phrase.    -   M###—Message ID for message acknowledgment sent back to the        sender.

The data parser may also support Encoding of codes in outbound returnand confirmation of messages to deliver URC's or Unsolicited ResponseConnections to indicate faults or events. These can be in the form ofembedded text characters, JSON, XML or other codes known to be supportedby the remote server.

Another way to control internal and external components is through acontrol output of the data parser and controller 103. For example, anoutput may be provided to controller 111. The controller 111 mayinterpret the output of the data parser and decoder 103 and issueappropriate output signals. For example, controller 111 may be connectedto amplifier 105 to control the output signal level of the amplifier 105which in turn relates to the audio volume of the speaker output 106. Thecontroller 111 may also include an external output. For example, theexternal output may provide information or control signals to externalsecurity components. The external security components may, for example,be a lockdown system to automatically lock doors or exits. Anotherexample would be to trigger an alarm system such as a fire alarm or avisual signaling system such as a strobe designed to alert individualswith hearing impairments of a detected condition.

The data parser and decoder 103 may be configured to process the messagepayloads. The transmission to the notification terminal may comply witha protocol that limits message length such that multiple messages mayneed to be assembled to complete transmission. The data parser anddecoder 103 may be configured to group incoming messages according to amessage identification field. The incoming messages may not arrive inthe proper order, therefore the data parser and decoder 103 may alsointerpret a sequence identifier contained in received messages. The dataparser and decoder 103 may be configured to group messages having thesame message identifier and order them according to the sequence andidentifier.

The data parser and decoder 103 may be configured to store messages fora period of time when a message arrives with a new message number. Ashort delay permits the data parser and decoder 103 to receive allmessages that are part of a single announcement and allow them to beplayed or processed in the correct sequence.

Instead of a message number, the data parser and controller 103 may beconfigured to monitor a transmitting station identifier contained in amessage. The transmitting station identifier may be used to groupmessages that are part of the same announcement and then place themessages in the correct order based on a sequence identifier.

A communications interface 109 may be provided as an alternative meansof communicating with the data parser and controller 103. Thecommunications interface 109 may not be a low power or a wide areacommunications interface. For example, the communications interface maybe a USB, serial, Wi-Fi, or Ethernet interface. In instances where theterminal 102 is not provided or available, communications may be assumedby 109 for backup or commercialization.

The system may include an addressable digital storage 110. Theaddressable digital storage 110 may be connected to the data parser anddecoder 103 and the amplifier 105. The addressable digital storage 110may include data representative of pre-established audio clips. Thepre-recorded audio information may be selected by an output of the dataparser and decoder 103 and provided to the amplifier 105. The purpose ofthe addressable digital storage 110 is to store pre-recorded messages orother audio information which may be announced by the notificationterminal 101 but are not provided by text information. Such a featuremay be used, for example, when an announcement is represented by alarger amount of data than could be quickly and efficiently transmittedin a text format or a tone or other sound is needed that cannot beeffectively created by text-to-speech conversion. In addition, theaddressable digital storage 110 may contain information representativeof audio which is not easily represented by text such as an alarmsignal. Information contained in the addressable digital storage 110 maybe pre-stored in the component or may be provided by a connection to thecommunications interface 109.

The speech synthesizer 104 may be of the type provided by the TextSpeakDesign Group as shown in the Users' Guide for TTS-EM-EN-C1/C2 or basedon a core processor chip, a software program incorporated in anoperating system, or module such as the TextSpeak TTS-EM. Anannouncement is audio and/or command information in a unit designated bya user. The content of an announcement may be determined, directly orindirectly by a user, although the system may impose operational limitson this determination. An announcement may be delivered to a terminal inone or more messages. The length of a message or size of the messagepayload may be limited by a communication protocol. For example, the SMSprotocol limits the single message payload to 160 characters, LoRa islimited to 256 byte and other LPWA systems the payload may less than 100bytes. The number of messages required to deliver an announcement may bedetermined by the length of the announcements and the size limitsimposed by the protocol being used, such as MMS or 3GPP TS 23.040concatenation services for SMS. The embodiment described does notrequire such services, but can support them when they are present. FIGS.2, 3, and 4 show a process for operation of an embodiment of anotification terminal. FIG. 2 shows the principal process flow. FIG. 3shows a sub-process for assembling an announcement that includes asequence of linguistic symbols. FIG. 4 shows a sub-process forsynthesizing speech using a message array.

According to FIG. 2, the notification terminal process entry point isshown at decision 201. The process entry point decision 201 may firstexamine if the terminal is ready to process messages. If the terminal isnot ready to process messages, the process ends at step 214. If theprocess is running, i.e. the system is ready to process messages, thenext inquiry 202 is whether a new character is received. If a newcharacter is received, inquiry 203 determines whether the character is acommand code. In this embodiment, the set of characters may includelinguistic symbols intended to be processed by a speech synthesizer, acancel code, or a command code. A linguistic symbol is data representingan utterance and/or information about an utterance. Linguistic symbolsmay include representations of phonemes, letters, phonology, morphology,syntax or semantics. The useful aspect of linguistic symbols in thecontext of the system is that the linguistic symbols are used tosynthesize speech. If the character is not a command code, step 204determines whether the character is a cancel code. If the character isnot a cancel code, the character then may be passed to theassemble_speech_text_array sub-process 205.

In view of the possibility of more than one announcement being deliveredto a notification terminal, each announcement may include anannouncement identification (“AID”). The announcement identification maybe a unique identification or a pseudo-unique identification. Theannouncement identification should be assigned to an announcementaccording to a scheme which has a very low probability of coincidingwith another announcement identification being delivered at or near thesame time. Announcements may be of varying lengths. Each announcementmay be delivered by one or more messages. According to some messageprotocols, maximum length of a message may be limited to a size that isinsufficient to deliver an entire announcement. In cases with multiplemessages, each message should include the announcement identificationand a message identification. The message identification may indicatethe sequence of the message within the announcement. A message mayinclude an End of Message data string (“EOM”) character or sequence. Onemessage in each announcement should include a signal that it representsthe last message in an announcement referred to as an End ofTransmission data string (“EOT”).

Upon return from the sub-process 205, inquiry 206 determines whether anEOT is present for a particular AID. If the EOT is found, processingpasses to the speak_message_array_item sub-process 207. If no EOT isfound and upon return from the speak_message_array_item sub-process 207,the next inquiry 208 is whether a speak_end_of_message (“EOS”) is foundfor an AID. The speak_end_of_message_found sub-process 208 monitorsdelivery of an announcement. This could be accomplished by checking asound card or Digital to Analog converter for an idle state indicationaccording to one possible embodiment. Another possible embodiment couldbe a supervision embodiment where a microphone or other sensor monitorsan audio output or ambient audio. The sensor output may be processed todetermine whether the announcement is complete or interrupted. Ifdecision 208 determines that an EOS indication is found for a particularAID, step 212 generates a “reply success and talk time” indication forthe AID. The “reply success and talk time” may be a confirmation codeand time stamp or time interval. Next, step 212 clears a timer andreturns process flow to the entry point 201. If inquiry 208 determinesthat an EOS is not found, inquiry 211 determines if a failure has beenfound. If a failure code has not been found, then the process flow isreturned to entry point 201. If the failure code is found, step 213generates a failure reply and time stamp for the AID and clears the talktimer. Control may then be passed back to the entry point 201.

If inquiry 204 identified a cancel code, step 209 may control thestop_speak_and_purge_all process. The stop_speak_and_purge_all processmay interrupt a speech synthesizer and clear a speech synthesizer inputbuffer. Control may then be processed to inquiry 208, as described abovewhere the success or failure of the action is reported in 212 or 213.

If inquiry 203 determines that the character is a command code, thesystem will process the command code at 210 and then proceed to inquiry208 and determine if an EOS is present for a particular AID. Although noSpeech may be generated in in a command code, the success or failure ofthe action is reported in 212 or 213. FIG. 3 shows an embodiment of anassemble_speech_text_array sub-process 205 when messages may or may notrequire concatenation. The entry point for the sub-process is shown at301. The next step is to acquire the message data payload at step 302and then make an inquiry into whether the payload relates to a newannouncement or is part of an announcement already in process. If amessage being processed belongs to a new announcement, a new_array_itemis added at step 309 and the sub-process returns to step 306. Step 304identifies if the message is part of an existing array and if so,concatenates or inserts the message into the array associated with theAID at the position indicated by the message sequencer (or SequenceIdentifier, “SID”). This embodiment is implemented with the variablename “UID” to represent an AID and then query 305 determines if it is anEOT character. If query 304 has a no result, then the next query 305determines if the character is an EOT character. If the character is notan EOT, the sub-process returns at 306. If the character is an end oftransmission character, the AID EOT found determination is set toidentify the AID at step 308 and then the sub-process returns to themain process at 306. In this way, a single message or multi-part messagearray may be aggregated and presented as shown in 207.

FIG. 4 shows the sub-process for the speak_message_array_item (UID) 207.The sub-process 207 begins at step 401. Next, at step 402 the UID codesand message identifiers are removed and speech tokens are queued to thespeech synthesizer and a start talk timer is initiated at step 402 thenthe sub-process returns to the main process at step 403.

FIGS. 5, 6, and 7 show a server side process for transmitting andreceiving messages to/from one or more notification terminals. Theserver can further be used to convert messaging to/from emails, voicecalls, cellular carriers, databases and alerting notifications. Theserver may host these subsystems or be connected to Cloud communicationsplatforms with Voice, Video, Telephone & Messaging API services such asNexmo or Twilio. FIG. 5 shows the main server side process flow. FIG. 6shows a SendMessage sub-process. FIG. 7 shows a GetResponse sub-process.The server side process operates to send messages and receiveconfirmations. An AID code is inserted in a message. The system uses theAID to track transmission, receipt, and confirmation of announcements.The client side will send a response, for example, when an announcementis converted and output to audio. If no confirmation is received withinan appropriate time, the announcement may be resent. A timer may be setfor the appropriate period after which the system assumes an erroroccurred if no confirmation is received. A notification can be issued toa system operator or user identifying a warning or failure. The clientmay also send a URC (Unsolicited Response Communication) to the serverthat may include an event, status report or notification for action bythe server software or server controlled hardware.

The server side process may be initiated at a load step 501 to initiatetransmission of a new announcement. Query 502 may indicate whether theserver side transmission process is running. If not, the load processmay be terminated at step 509. If the server side is running, then query503 determines whether a new message is ready. If a new message isready, then the send_message sub-process is invoked at 504. Upon returnfrom the send_message sub-process and if there is no new message ready,query 505 determines if any new responses have been received, either assent message Responses or URCs. If so, the get_responses sub-process 506is invoked. Upon return from the get_responses sub-process and if thereare no new processes, query 507 determines if there is a failed AID. Asstated above, this determination can be based on a time out condition.If there is a failed AID, then the sender may be notified and themessage may be resent at step 508 whereupon the process is returned toquery 502. If there is no failed AID, the process loops back and repeatsat query 502.

FIG. 6 shows a send_message sub-process. The send_message sub-processoperates to insert announcement identifications in every announcement.In this way, a single announcement may be delivered over multiplemessages, each having the same AID. The AID is useful to assembleconstituent messages into a single announcement, and useful tocoordinate confirmation and/or failure responses. The entry point forthe send_message sub-process is shown at 601. The new message indicatoris set as FALSE and the process of embedding an AID in the message isaccomplished at step 602. Query 603 determines whether the delivery willbe through SMS or other payload limited transmission. In this examplethe limit is cited at 160 characters for clarity. If yes, inquiry 604determines whether the message payload is greater than 160 characters at604. If the payload is greater than 160 characters, a sub-process 605may be invoked which segments the announcement into payloads of lessthan 160 characters and inserts the AID and some sequence indicator intoeach constituent message. Once sub-process 605 returns with messages allhaving payloads less than 160 characters, the messages are transmittedat step 606, and the new responses indicator is set to TRUE. Step 607 isan end of sub-process and return to the main process. If inquiry 603determines that the delivery is not through SMS, the 160-characterlimitation is not applicable so the message may simply be transmitted atstep 606. Similarly, if inquiry 604 determines an SMS delivery involvesa payload of less than 160 characters, the message may be deliveredwithout further segmentation.

FIG. 7 shows a GetResponse sub-process. The GetResponse sub-processoperates to iterate all outstanding (sent) messages, waits for aconfirmation for each AID or a timeout of the AID and note it as afailed send. It also allows for optional processing of URCs. Whenreceived, URC's are processed and confirmed back to the client TheGetResponse sub-process 506 is initiated at entry point 701. The failedUID level is set to zero at step 707. A loop may be initiated for x=1 tonumber of sends at step 703. If x does not equal the number of sends,the AID may be retrieved at step 704. Query 705 determines whether UIDtime has expired for that AID. If so, the AID is noted as failed UID at706, and the loop is incremented at step 707. If the time expired andAID is not true, the loop is also incremented at step 707 and returnedto step 703. When step 703 determines that x equals the number of sends,the loop is terminated and query 708 determines if the failed UID levelis zero. If the failed UID level is zero, then a New Response flag isset to false at step 709, to inform other processes there are no pendingresponses to process in successive iterations, and the sub-processreturns at step 710 If the failed UID is not equal to zero, then thesub-process returns at step 710.

In a typical deployment, such as an outdoor public event, the Terminalmay be attached to public address system used for audienceentertainment. In the event of an emergency officials of the event mayuse any mobile device to send a standard SMS text message, that wouldcontain a real-time emergency announcement instructions, as well as anembedded control code that signals the Controller (111) to invoke arelay, disconnecting current music input, to insert a voice announcementrepresentative of the text message directly into the public pagingsystem. The message sent may be directed to the server to be dispatchedto client terminals. Alternatively, the server functionality may becontained in the mobile device thereby eliminating the need for acentral server and further enhancing reliability and hardening thenotification system.

In another scenario, a machine that issues malfunction notices based ondata normal only shown on LCD as text, may be connected to a wirelessLPWA or a cellular network to general and automatic SMS message. In thecase of a railroad crossing gate malfunction, a message would create areal-time audio announcement to the train driver, and send an SMS/LPWAmessage from (102) to a wireless network notify the Rail Command Centerof an emergency in progress. This message may be distributed for furthernotifications via a rail center message distribution program or directlyto another Terminal at the Rail Center, for an audible announcement orto individuals (passengers or drivers) who may be at a rail crossings orstations.

In a third scenario, a public and campus safety system that replies onSMS Message distribution in commonly available “Mass NotificationSoftware”, such as “Omnilert” or “Rapid Notify” is limited to reachingmobile phones with visual messages. With the Invention, theCommunications Terminal, 102 may be a Cellular Terminal and have anassigned dial-able telephone number. In this case the Mass Notificationsoftware may assign the Terminal telephone number as the primary “user”so that the SMS message received by the terminal may make anannouncement in the building speakers and/or connected to campus audiopaging systems. This would create a substantially beneficial warningmethod to just SMS message distribution as it would reachnon-subscribers and be heard by a wide audience within seconds offeringa warning well ahead of SMS messages including in a potential1000-person listing.

The techniques, processes and apparatus described may be utilized tocontrol operation of any device and conserve use of resources based onconditions detected or applicable to the device.

The invention is described in detail with respect to preferredembodiments, and it will now be apparent from the foregoing to thoseskilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made withoutdeparting from the invention in its broader aspects, and the invention,therefore, as defined in the claims, is intended to cover all suchchanges and modifications that fall within the true spirit of theinvention.

Thus, specific apparatus for and methods of generating audioannouncements have been disclosed. It should be apparent, however, tothose skilled in the art that many more modifications besides thosealready described are possible without departing from the inventiveconcepts herein. The inventive subject matter, therefore, is not to berestricted except in the spirit of the disclosure. Moreover, ininterpreting the disclosure, all terms should be interpreted in thebroadest possible manner consistent with the context. In particular, theterms “comprises” and “comprising” should be interpreted as referring toelements, components, or steps in a non-exclusive manner, indicatingthat the referenced elements, components, or steps may be present, orutilized, or combined with other elements, components, or steps that arenot expressly referenced.

1. A notification terminal comprising: a communication terminalconfigured to receive announcement communications wherein saidannouncement communications include a message identification and asequence identification; a data parser and decoder responsive to saidcommunication terminal configured to parse and decode said announcementcommunications and configured to group announcement communicationshaving the same message identifications and order announcementcommunications having the same message identifications according to saidsequence identification; a speech synthesizer connected to a linguisticoutput of said data parser and decoder and having an output of signalsrepresenting audio information; and further comprising analyticsconfigured to report a condition indicative of successful completion ofsaid announcement.
 2. The notification terminal according to claim 1wherein the communication terminal is an LPWA (low power wide area)network communication terminal.
 3. The notification terminal accordingto claim 1 wherein the communication terminal is a low data ratecellular terminal with an SMS channel.
 4. The notification terminalaccording to claim 1 wherein the communication terminal is a low datarate radio terminal with mesh network channels.
 5. The notificationterminal according to claim 1 further comprising an amplifier connectedto said output of said speech synthesizer; and wherein an output of saidamplifier is connected to at least one of a speaker, transducer, andconnection terminal.
 6. The notification terminal according to claim 1wherein said data parser and decoder further comprises a command parserconfigured to identify and connect input commands to a controller. 7.The notification terminal according to claim 6 wherein said controlleris configured to discard messages related to an announcement identifierif a complete sequence of messages related to said announcementidentifier are not received within a time period.
 8. The notificationterminal according to claim 1 further comprises a message arrayconnected to an output of said data parser and decoder.
 9. Thenotification terminal according to claim 1 further comprising acommunication interface connected to a communication channel, whereinsaid communication interface is connected to said data parser anddecoder.
 10. The notification terminal according to claim 1 wherein saiddata parser and decoder has a trigger output.
 11. The notificationterminal according to claim 1 wherein said analytics is responsive to anoutput of said speech synthesizer and said analytics is configured toissue a confirmation upon detection of completion of processing by saidspeech synthesizer.
 12. The notification terminal according to claim 1wherein said report is a confirmation of successful announcement. 13.The notification terminal according to claim 1 wherein said analytics isconnected to said communication terminal.
 14. The notification terminalaccording to claim 1 wherein said analytics is further configured toissue a notice indicative of an event.
 15. The notification terminalaccording to claim 1 wherein said analytics is further configured toissue a notice indicative of status.
 16. The notification terminalaccording to claim 1 wherein said analytics is further configured toissue a notice which is a notification for action.